By the numbers, Gonzalez never seems to rate well. This year he’s average by this stat. On balls in his zone, he’s made 92 plays on 114 chances (3 plays better than average). On balls outside of his zone, however, he’s made just 23 plays (-4 plays). One half year of data doesn’t tell us much, though. Here’s his UZR (BIS data) from 2006 through 2009:

Year

UZR

2006

+7

2007

-7

2008

-3

2009

+3

Overall, like UZR, most metrics see him around average. Who is right? The fans who see him as one of the best first basemen in the game or the numbers which peg him right around average? I really don’t know. It’s important to note that these stats don’t consider picking errant throws and some don’t consider double plays (UZR does, however – the THT-based numbers above do not). We may be safest taking a middle ground, and assuming Adrian is a +5 fielder, while fully acknowledging that he really may be average (or a bit below) or +10. There’s a pretty lot of uncertainty here.